"Women Cannot Be Denied Right To Autonomy In The Garb of Protection":Women's Rights Group Moves Allahabad HC Against UP Anti-Conversion Ordinance

A Lucknow based women's rights group, Association for Advocacy and Legal Initiatives, has moved the Allahabad High Court seeking to intervene in the ongoing proceedings against the Anti-Conversion Ordinance passed by the UP Government.The High Court has allowed the intervention application filed through Advocate Vrinda Grover. At the outset, the application alleges that the Ordinance has a 'disproportionate impact' on the constitutional rights of women, especially under Articles 14, 15, 19, 21 and 25 of the Constitution, as well as an egregious impact on Constitutional rights of all citizens. Further, the organization has resisted the UP Government's claim that conversion for marriage is not out of choice but due to intervention of personal law. No conflict between choice to marry and religious conversion under personal laws The organization has submitted that there is no conflict in law between an individual's right to choice in marriage and the right to practice a religion of one's belief. To substantiate this, it has submitted, "The Special Marriage Act, 1954, allows for inter faith marriages in India, and there is no compulsion to convert one's religion under personal laws to exercise the choice to marry someonc outside one's faith. It is only those persons who wish to practise the faith of their marital partner who choose to convert their religion for the purpose of marriage." Also Read: Mandatory Publication Of Notice Of Intended Marriage Under Special Marriage Act Violates Right To Privacy: Allahabad High Court It is asserted that there is no systemic compulsion to convert one's religion to marry a person of another religion. "The choice to abide by and fall within the jurisdiction of some personal law a for the purpose of marriage is thus a real choice borne out of free will and volition. There is thus no conflict between the freedom of choice and the right to one's dignity when it comes to conversion for marriage, as human dignity is best protected when one's choice to convert (or not) for marriage is respected," the application states. Individual Autonomy and Freedom of Choice of women are protected under Article 21 The organization has argued that the impugned ordinance, in so far as it outlaws conversion for the sole purpose of marriage, infantilizes the legitimate choice made by an adult person who voluntarily chooses to opt for a way of life by converting their religion to that of their partner to marriage. Reliance is placed on the Supreme Court's decision in Shefin Jahan v. Asokan KM, (2018) 16 SCC 368, where it categorically injuncted that the State must not interfere in the private lives of citizens, especially in affairs pertaining to the choice of spouse in marriage, and that the State must be committed to promoting and protecting the plurality and diversity of India's culture, including where it manifests in intimate personal choices and decisions. UP Ordinance On Conversion Is Nothing But Criminalization Of Inter-Faith Marriages : Petitioner's Rejoinder In Allahabad High Court The application also refers to the case of Shakti Vahini v. Union of India, (2018) 7 SCC 192, where the Supreme Court held that, "The choice of an individual is an inextricable part of dignity. for dignity' cannot be thought of where there is erosion of choice…When two adults marry out of their volition, they choose their path; they consummate their relationship; they feel that it is their goal and they have the right to do so. And it can unequivocally be stated that they have the right and any infringement of the said right is a constitutional violation." Women cannot be denied right to autonomy in the garb of protection Referring to the Supreme Court's findings in Anuj Garg v. Hotel Association of India (2008) 3 SCC 1 against overstepping women's autonomy and their right to take decisions as adults in the garb of protection, the organization submits, "The impugned Ordinance if tested with strict scrutiny, reveals that the absence of a narrow definition of "aggrieved person", and the broad provision allowing family relatives to file FIRs, leads to complete annihilation of the individual autonomy and liberty of women who are given no say in determining the legitimacy of their conversion if it is followed by marriage. The impugned Ordinance promotes gender stereotypes which views the right of the family or community as supreme and while treating women as repositories of 'honour', deprives her of her personality, privacy and dignity." Further, it is alleged that the Proviso to Section 5(1) of the impugned Ordinance classifies women along with members of the SC/ST community and minors as a vulnerable class, and provides enhanced punishment for conversion of a woman as opposed to that of a man. "The classification of women and men as two distinct classes of victims with separate punishment ...

"Women Cannot Be Denied Right To Autonomy In The Garb of Protection":Women's Rights Group Moves Allahabad HC Against UP Anti-Conversion Ordinance

Akshita Saxena

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